Daniel Levy must play his cards right to find striking ace for Spurs

Everyone can see that Tottenham need a centre-forward. The head coach knows it, the supporters know it and — most importantly — rival clubs know it. With the transfer window closing on Thursday, how Tottenham’s chairman chooses to tackle the problem might shape the rest of the season for his club. Over to you, Mr Levy.

Daniel Levy’s transfer brinkmanship and penchant for doing deals as time ebbs away is all about securing the best price for Spurs. Levy does not act in this way simply because he enjoys it. It is because he believes it is a way to find competitive value in the market.

By negotiating late with a club who need to sell, the theory goes, you can bring down the price. Yet Jermain Defoe’s absence through injury for yesterday’s FA Cup defeat at Leeds has put Spurs in a vulnerable position.

Although Andre Villas-Boas insists Defoe should be fit for Wednesday’s League match at Norwich, the knock he took in training was sufficient to prevent him travelling to Elland Road.

With Emmanuel Adebayor representing Togo at the Africa Cup of Nations, Spurs approached a difficult Cup tie without a proper striker. Indeed, at Elland Road they were forced to bring on Jonathan Obika, who has yet to make a League appearance for the club. The situation is far from ideal, especially if Togo qualify for the knock-out stages by beating Tunisia on Wednesday. Such a result would keep Adebayor away for at least next Sunday’s match at West Brom.

The problem with leaving it so late is that every club in Europe now realise where Spurs are weak. When Levy starts to enquire about forwards, he might discover the price is higher than when he explored the situation earlier in the month. Gary Hooper, Danny Graham, Kenwyne Jones and Alvaro Negredo are four forwards likely to change clubs this week. Negredo, the Sevilla player, would surely improve Tottenham and his club are thought to be keen to sell. Hooper’s goal record for Celtic is impressive but neither man will come cheap.

Levy is determined not to compromise Spurs’ financial position by agreeing a transfer he believes to be too costly, yet what if he paid over the odds for a forward who helped deliver a Champions League place? It would make it a wise piece of business.

One or two things are certain in football. Managers will always berate officials, crowds will always applaud vigorously when a defender heads the ball back to his goalkeeper or when an attacking player completes a piece of basic defensive work. The success of player acquisitions and sales is, however, a little more difficult to predict and despite Spurs’ obvious deficiencies up front, it is hard to imagine Levy committing to a large fee. The latest set of financial figures showed a £4.3million loss but still, building a new stadium during his chairmanship remains Levy’s priority.

That project will be easier to realise if Spurs are regularly in the Champions League. While they are still in a good position to reach that target, the feeling persists that the squad need strengthening. Fewer performances like the one at Elland Road would help, too. Leeds went 2-0 up, thanks to goals from Luke Varney and Ross McCormack, and Clint Dempsey’s header could not inspire a Spurs revival. While the attackers struggled to fire, the defence — without Michael Dawson — looked vulnerable. Time and again, Steven Caulker and Jan Vertonghen were racing towards their own goal and El-Hadji Diouf gave Vertonghen an exacting afternoon.

The FA Cup ambition is over for another year and this is the week when Levy, the arch poker player, takes centre stage. His task? To ensure Spurs are feeling flush on February 1.